Four students from the University of Marylands Block and Bridle Club placed 2nd of 46 collegiate teams at NESA, a regional livestock competition hosted this year at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Over the weekend of February eighth, nearly two hundred agricultural students from ten institutions travelled to UMass to showcase their livestock knowledge at the annual meeting of the North Eastern Student Affiliate or NESA of the American Dairy Science Association. As part of the one-day competition, teams went head to head in a series of contests that encompassed all aspects of animal agriculture, including a presentation on current livestock research, a judging contest, and a quiz bowl featuring questions submitted by UMass faculty.
After a years hiatus from the contest, the University of Marylands Block and Bridle Club sent a team of four students to compete: senior animal science majors Bret Bucci, Patrick Creighton, and Hannah Seitz, and senior agricultural sciences and technology major Tim Von Thun. The trip was the culmination of many months of hard work on the part of the team, the club, and Block and Bridles amazing and dedicated advisors: Kiera Finucane and Jen Reynolds.
Many of the institutions at NESA were able to send 10 20 students to compete, but the small Maryland group proved to be the dark horse of the competition, beating out teams with years of experience. The UMD students placed high in all three areas of the competition, taking fifth in judging, third in quiz bowl, and fourth for Creightons presentation on cannulation of horses. The foursomes high rank in all three aspects won them second place of the 46 teams at the contest and earned the University of Maryland the title of number two institution in the Northeast Region, second only to Penn State.
The Block and Bridle Club would like to thank the faculty and staff of the Department of Animal and Avian Sciences for their generous support, as well as the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Their continued backing of fundraising and recruitment efforts has strengthened the club immensely and made the achievements of the team at NESA possible.
The University of Marylands Block and Bridle Club is an animal husbandry and livestock club dedicated to educating students about animal agriculture. Students from all majors and experience levels are invited to join and participate in club activities like NESA and the upcoming Ag Day livestock show at the Universitys on campus farm. The livestock show features students and alumni showing a variety of animals as part of the campus wide Maryland Day festivities taking place on the 26th of April.
